‘Indians and Pakistanis are also in Russian forces’

Kathmandu: On 16 May 2023, Putin authorized a law making it easier to fast-track Russian citizenship for foreign nationals joining Russian forces. This has lured many Nepali into the Russian forces. Lately, it has emerged that not only Nepalis, there are some other nationalities in Russian forces from the South Asian region.

A fresh Nepali recruit in Russian forces has said that he has seen even Indians and Pakistanis in Russian forces. In an exclusive interview with Nepal Press from his closed camp for firing and drone usage, he said he is in the vicinity of Moscow.

‘Most of us are Nepalis but Indians and Pakistanis are also in Russian forces’, said the youth who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added, ‘We can understand each other languages while speaking on our own.’

While talking about other nationalities in the Russian forces, the unsuccessful hopeful for Singapore police said he has seen faces from Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, and folks from the nations in the vicinities of Russia.

He strongly refuted media reports that Nepalis are in Wagner group. ‘Wagner group is the group of jailbirds and even the Wagner chief Prigozhin was jailbird’, he said, ‘There are no Nepalis in Wagner group.’ He said the Wagner is almost defunct in Russia.

The youth said not all hopefuls are recruited by Russian forces. ‘Those who have issues of sexual diseases and drug usage are not enlisted, one Nepali was disqualified for his drug issues’, he informed.